Review: Rick And Morty “The Ricklantis Mixup”

When you’re down, that’s where you’ll stay.

SPOILERS BELOW

Rick and Morty gear up for an awesome, toothless, social commentary free adventure to the lost city of Atlantis! But are stopped by another universe’s version of the two, getting donations for the redevelopment of the Citadel of Ricks (IE the Ricks who decided to fight the government by becoming a government and were swiftly but harshly decimated by our Rick during the season premiere). Naturally, Rick tells them to piss off and the two head to Atlantis. Episode over!

OUR TAKE

Holy crap, I can’t believe the mermaids turned out to the species that Mr. Poopybutthole comes from, AND they’re the creators of the portal guns Rick uses, which are actually also time machines so Rick can go back in time and be a better father to Beth! Like, wow, man. Seeing all of these seemingly arbitrary but beloved story elements come together like that out of the blue and just have a genuinely heartwarming experience from beginning to end is just…wow. But too much water for my taste.

Score

1.8/10

…Okay, alright, I know there’s other stuff that happens.

REAL SPOILERS BELOW.

What ACTUALLY happens is the story turning to the still redeveloping Citadel. We end up getting a large view of this place and how it’s changed, introduced by a network drama-ish theme song sung by Jeff B. Davis. We see most of this through four main story threads (in no particular order except the last one):

A Rick (J-22) works at a factory making snacks formed from another “Simple” Rick’s simulated remembered love for Beth. After being passed up for supervisor, he snaps, kills his boss, and holes up with the snack source to hold it hostage. He rants and raves, finally seeing how the system has chewed him out while letting exact duplicates move higher up, and realizing how much of his Rick-ness he’s lost because of it. He bargains with the surrounding military for a portal gun to escape but kills the Simple Rick to confirm they only wanted him dead. When all seems lost, the owner of the factory, Rick D. Sanchez III, arrives to vindicate him and take him to a new life. This turns out to simply be a way to harness the worker Rick’s feeling of “shattering the grand illusion”, as he has now become simply another brick in the foundation of lies he despised.

Next, a Rick Rookie Cop meets his new partner, a Morty. The Rick is put off by the Morty treating his own kind as animals, even though Mortys are basically second class citizens here. This is setting up some social parallels I don’t think I’m qualified to talk about given my complexion but suffice to say that I should probably watch the movie Training Day. Eventually, the Morty brings the Rick in on a mobster payroll which leads to a gunfight and the Morty gunned down. Just the same old story, Ricks killing Mortys.

Meanwhile, at a Morty Reassignment School, four students make their last day one to remember by going to “the Wishing Portal”. They each have their own idea of where the portal goes and what they can get out of it, but one Slick Morty guesses it probably goes nowhere, mainly due to him needing to be dramatic because of experimental implants. Once there, they make their wishes by sacrificing important things, but Slick only wishes their lives would change and jumps into the portal to make sure it comes true. And then garbage gets dropped through the portal after him because fuck you and your feelings.

Lastly, a Morty runs for office in an all Rick election for the Citadel’s first democratically elected president. After a slam dunk speech addressing the decaying system at a debate, he begins to soar in the polls and fires his pessimistic campaign manager, who then gets tipped off on a major secret and decides to assassinate the candidate. Unfortunately, the kill doesn’t take and Candidate Morty is now President while his former campaign manager is sucked out an airlock with his evidence. Now in office, President Morty culls his Rick advisors of dissenters begins a change that reverberates throughout the Citadel. The music cue reveals this is Evil Morty, the Morty of the remotely controlled Evil Rick from Season 1. Our Rick and Morty return from Atlantis none the wiser that powers have shifted in a major way.

OUR TAKE (FOR REAL)

Good god, that was a lot. Once again, Rick and Morty pushes our faces up against a mirror and forces us to gaze at all the stupid we accept in the world. Two people, with who knows how many iterations, spread out into one world to make a society that forces them into boxes and drives them to the brink of madness.

Now, before this starts getting all manifesto-y, I really have to give it up to Justin Roiland for carrying virtually the entire episode with different versions of Rick and Morty. Not quite up to snuff with Tatiana Maslany of Orphan Black, but damn close. Every Rick and Morty comes out a fully recognizable person (even if a couple of the story threads were clear homages to movies like Stand By Me and, as mentioned, Training Day).

And of course, we gotta address this new development some of us have been waiting for since “Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind”. Rick’s assault on the Citadel basically gave Evil Morty the perfect opportunity to swoop in and raise hopes of the dejected public, pre-Nazi Germany style. Though probably a lot more nuanced. With Tammy’s Federation remnants and Phoenix Person also licking their wounds, the two great powers of the show’s multiverse are on the rise and likely coming for our main two. But before that, time for Neil Gaiman dreaming next week!